Attitudes towards reading habits and writing tendencies of gifted and talented students

In this study, it is aimed to determine the attitudes towards reading habits and writing tendencies of gifted and talented students who are of great importance for the future of the country. Evaluating the relationship between the students' attitudes towards reading habits and their writing tendencies, and determining whether they show meaningful differences according to various variables are also among the aims of the study. In this study of descriptive, where quantitative research methods are used, the population consists of gifted and talented students, which are registered in BILSEMs (Science and Arts Centers) in Turkey. Sample group is constructed from 352 students by random sampling method, 160 girl and 192 boy, between 4-8th grade, who are attending BILSEMs in cities Sinop, Kayseri, Sakarya and Antalya. In the study, "Personal Knowledge Form", "Five-factor Personality Scale", "Attitude Scale for Reading Habits", "Writing Tendency Scale" were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the obtained data, the normality test of the numerical variables was controlled by Kolmogrov Smirnov test. In cases where the numerical variables show normal distribution, Independent Samples t-Test and One-Way Anova were used. In cases where the numerical data do not show normal distribution, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H test were used. Spearman's Rho correlation coefficient was used in the analysis of the relations between binary variables when they do not show normal distribution. At the end of the study, it was determined that gifted and talented students' attitudes towards reading habits and their writing tendencies are at high levels and there is a meaningful, positive and weak relation between them. According to the findings, there is a meaningful difference in students' attitudes towards reading habits and writing tendencies in favour of female students, and the highest scores obtained from the scales according to the grade level belong to the fifth grade, while the lower scores belong to the sixth grade. When the relation between gifted and talented students' personality structures, writing tendencies and attitudes towards reading habits is analysed, low-level negative relationship between the mean scores of the scale's "extraversion", "docility", "self control", "opennes to experience" dimensions; in the "emotional imbalance (norotism)" dimension low-level positive relationship was found. According to the results of the study, there was no significant difference in the writing tendencies of the participants caused by their regular talent areas in science and art centres; there was no significant difference in their attitudes towards reading habits and writing tendencies caused by the educational level of their parents. Students who like Turkish lesson and writing, who find themselves successful in writing, who keep diaries and have libraries in their homes, have a much more positive reading attitude and writing tendency than others. The findings obtained from the study has the quality to contribute to the organisation of educational programs that will contribute to the development of gifted and talented students.